Entertainment CEO Jeong Chang-hwan cites eye-catching choreographies, magnificent visuals as keys to K-pop’s success

French orchestra is the first foreign orchestra to perform in Korea this year

( gypark@heraldcorp.com )

A six-day music festival bringing together Korean jazz musicians will be held next month, organizers announced Tuesday. The 2022 Seoul Jazz Festa will take place on Nodeul Island, Seoul, starting April 26, according to the Korea Jazz Association. The in-person festival aims to celebrate the UNESCO-designated International Jazz Day, highlighting jazz and its role in uniting people around the glo...

Korean American singer-songwriter Woosung will release an all-English language EP titled “Moth” next month, according to Transparent Arts. The upcoming EP will include four tracks written and produced by the artist that encapsulate the theme of moth. “Moth” will be released May 13 via global music streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. The music video will be available on Woosu...

Nominated for best pop duo or group performance, BTS leaves empty-handed two years in a row

Saturday’s meeting between officials of the agency of boy band BTS, Hybe, and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition committee went without discussing the K-pop sensation’s possible military service exemption, a high-ranking official said, while hinting it could be discussed in the new administration. There was “no mention about the military service at all,” Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of Yoon’s pr...

South Korean model and actor Jung Ho-yeon, who rose to global stardom in the Netflix hit series “Squid Game,” will appear in the music video of Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd. The Weeknd posted a photo of the two holding hands in an elevator on his social media, Friday, hinting that the music video for “Out of Time” is set to be released Tuesday. “Out of Time” is a track from the pop sin...

Violinist Edwin E.S. Kim is embarking on an unprecedented journey with 30 concerts, collectively titled “Dots and Lines,” aiming to explore 300 years of violin history. “By mathematical definition, a point is a place in space; a line is a set of points, and a surface is a set of lines,” Kim said during a press conference Tuesday. “I thought it would be intriguing to showcase how the works of gre...

“Kpop,” an original musical about what it takes to be a K-pop star, is hitting Broadway in October after five years as a smaller scale show that has grown in popularity in tandem with the global rise of Korean music. “Kpop” premiered as an immersive off-Broadway show in the fall of 2017. The production received the 2018 Richard Rodgers Award, three Lucille Lortel Awards, including best musical, ...

The DJ made his first visit to Korea in December last year, even shooting the song’s music video with Kim and Son at Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, which was designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site for its historical value. He felt it was a “natural fit” to bring together their sounds on the project. He is seeking a greater opportunity to expand his base in Korea, where he can link up with...

Clarinet player Cho Sung-ho discovered his passion for wind instruments when he played the recorder for the first time in fifth grade. He had been exposed to music from an early age by his mother who was a piano teacher, and by his maternal grandfather who was a professional violinist. “For some reason that I couldn’t pinpoint, I wasn’t a big fan of the violin or the piano, but once I played the...

Lang Lee highlighted the bleak side of the Korean music scene where even an award-winning musician faces extreme financial difficulties. “Artists should get reasonable payments when they share thoughts or deliver performances in front of an audience. It’s our ‘paid work,’” she said, suggesting that she should be paid 300,000 won for media interviews, like the one conducted with The Korea Herald....

Her creative process is well known. She only handwrites her compositions and conducts the entire creative process only in her head. In addition, she said the title of each piece is as important as the music itself. “I would say 30 percent of my energy is put into the naming of the piece,” she added. Chin was born in Gimpo in 1961. She taught herself piano at a young age before studying at Seoul...

Even though a few performances were canceled and last-minute changes were made up until the opening day, this year’s TIMF will feature more than 20 unique programs during over nine days under the theme of “Vision in Diversity,” which the director said will be the underlying motif that she will continue to keep in her mind. “Music is a communication tool that goes beyond the boundaries of everyth...